


How Arthur became the beloved of all

by Annabelsmith



Series: Life in Camelot [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, Protective Arthur, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-17 09:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19951228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annabelsmith/pseuds/Annabelsmith
Summary: Servants are sometimes (mostly) not treated well by their employers. What happens when Arthur realises this?





	How Arthur became the beloved of all

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EternalFangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalFangirl/gifts).



> My First fic, finally. I have been reading Fan-Fiction for years, but never wrote one. So here is my first offering. Just a Slice of Life.  
> This has subtle hints to Merlin/Arthur but they are blink and miss and have no names so you can imagine your OTP in its place.  
> The timeline is sometime after Morgana's attack when Arthur is Reagent.

Arthur was very observant, he was! It was his solemn duty as a warrior to observe all around him and be aware of all that happens in his vicinity (We all know how aware he is… Not as much as he thinks, much more than a certain manservant would hope.), but this was not something he had even thought of in his wildest imagination, which was when a certain someone was involved, very wild.

To explain his state, we go back a few hours to the arrival of a nobleman from one of the less important areas. Though the area was not as significant, it was still necessary to the working of the kingdom, thus Arthur was prepared to welcome the Lord. Heaven knows his father was in no position to do it.

He also knows why these people were arriving from the woodwork, news of Uther's health had reached far and wide by now. Camelot had been fielding visitors nearly every day.

Anyway, the lord arrives, is welcomed to Camelot with all pomp, and directed to his guest quarters, to meet later at the banquet in respect of the noble.

Nothing odd, but in the evening, while returning to his quarters to dress, he sees a very injured boy struggling with an armful of clothes. The boy is nearly staggering as he tries to manage the large bundle. Alarmed, Arthur pulls out the bundle from the hands of the lad and hands it over to one of the maids scurrying past.

"Hello lad, where does the bundle need to go?" Arthur asks, wondering where the lad came from.

The boy starts crying, "I am sorry sir, I was to take the clothing of my lord for laundry, but I got lost and... and…"

Arthur, who is awkward at best when someone is crying, is rescued by Gwen.

"Oh, you poor lad, shh…shh… now, we will take the clothing to the laundry, don’t fret. Who do you work for?"

The lad turns out to work for the lord that has just arrived, hence did not know the way around the castle. Arthur seeing that the lad was in good hands, went off to his chambers, still wondering how the boy got hurt…

He would not appreciate the answer he received.

As he was nearing the banquet hall, he heard two servants talking about how the noble visiting today beat his servants savagely. He had even had a few die in his service, rumours said.

Arthur is shocked 'People hurt the servants? I mean I throw things at Merlin sure, but... but…..'

"Merlin! MERLIN!!!!"

Merlin comes running and seeing the state of the Prince, and says with as much respect as he can muster (which is not much) "Yes Sire?"

Arthur, very anxious, snaps "Oh now you want to be respectful?! Never mind! Tell me this, has someone been beating the servants in my castle?"

"No, at least not since a few months after I started here. They know that if, rather when I find out, I will inform you and there will be hell to pay. So it has not happened. The nobles who bring their own servants might still beat them since it is not easy to get their trust to know if it is happening, but as far as I know, that does not happen in the castle."

"Good, that is good. And tell me if you know of such a situation in the future, maybe a spot of training will be useful in beating the sense into such people."

"Sure Arthur" Merlin said, completely forgetting the resolve to be polite, "now prat, you had better go to the hall, you are very nearly late."

"I am the reagent Merlin, the banquet starts when I arrive, I am never late."

"Tell that to the hungry people in there, now go on."

Arthur, shaking his head, walks into the hall. He is very distracted throughout the dinner and not very attentive to the noble, not that he notices. The noble seems to like the sound of his own voice and can keep going with just a head nod, all on his lonesome.

Arthur continued to think on the preposterous matter he had been appraised about through sheer chance.

He made a decision and Merlin was ordered to have all the servants in the castle gathered in the audience chamber for a closed meeting with the Prince Reagent.

Most new servants were petrified, thinking they did something. The old ones were intrigued, since they could not fathom Arthur hurting them, maybe the stocks for a few people?

Arthur walked into the chamber and stood at the front.

"Everyone here? In case anyone is missing pass on this edict to them. No one in my castle is allowed to maliciously harm you. You may be servants, but you are people doing honest labour. I am not saying that accidents cannot happen, that you cannot get hurt at all in the course of your work. But, if you feel uncomfortable with someone in the household, for whatever reason, you can come to Merlin. He will help however he can or come to me. I also realize that as Merlin is always with me, there may be some issue in catching him to inform him of the issue. You can go to the cook, the physician, the librarian or any of the other senior staff for help. I know that this is already happening in most cases, but for anyone who has been afraid of coming forward, you can rest assured it will be handled."

The hall was pin drop in silence. This was not expected in their wildest dreams, Merlin was standing next to the Prince nodding along and beaming so wide that his eyes had closed.

The applause, when it started, was loud enough to be heard in the training field outside.

Once Arthur had left, the servants surrounded Merlin asking questions and expressing disbelief.

"I had nothing to do with it. The last noble that visited, you remember that hurt boy? Arthur was the one who first found him and was concerned that such a thing might be happening here as well. He asked me, I said we handle it if it does happen, but he was not happy. He decided all by himself to make sure that his people know to come to him if it ever happens."

Merlin had not been entirely truthful with them, since he had told Arthur it did not happen, but it did and they handled it. Generally, a threat of going to the Prince was enough. The senior staff knew Arthur, he would have been distressed to hear that someone was hurting his people, which is the main reason they handled it.

This is how the treatment of servants was defined in Camelot. Arthur had only informed the people that they could come to him and he would hear them. But this was the stepping stone on which Arthur was the most beloved king, since to him all were human.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my sister - EternalFangirl  
> Let me know how you liked this. I have made this work a series as I may or may not add to the universe.


End file.
